In Another Life
by Destroyer Ov Nations
Summary: What if Janeways life was a little different? Alternate universe.
1. Chapter 1

(This story is dedicated to Kate Mulgrew for playing the character of Captain Janeway and for being an awesome role model)

In Another Life

In another life, Kathryn Janeway may have been a doctor saving people's lives. Or maybe a scientist, inventing new things. Or maybe even a starship captain, exploring the far reaches of space and meeting alien species. But in this life, Kathryn Janeway was three years old and only pretending to be all those things.

Right now, she was trying to be a captain, and her mom was supposed to be her crew, but her mom wasn't cooperating. Kathryn stared out the window, her 'viewscreen', of their temporary quarters on a passenger transport ship that was taking them to a newly found planet.

Mrs Janeway was getting ready, fixing her hair and getting her shoes on, because they were to arrive soon. The planet, Keltinia, was inhabited by a small population of fun-loving Keltinians. Most of them had moved off planet in search of adventure.

Mrs Janeway was bringing Kathryn there for a carnival that Keltinia was famous for. It had only been famous for a short time, but Mrs Janeway didn't want her daughter missing out. "Here, Kathryn, put your shoes on," she said, catching the energetic three year old and tying her shoes on. "We'll be there soon."

Suddenly the ship shook, causing Mrs Janeway to stumble, and she caught Kathryn before she fell over. "What was that?" she asked herself, grabbing her daughters hand and hurrying to the door to see what was going on. The door whooshed open ahead of her just as an alarm went off.

The corrider was filled with yelling people running in each direction. Flashing emergency lights lit the dark hallway with a red glow. An announcement sounded over the shipwide comm system. "Abandon ship! This is not a drill! Repeat, abandon ship!" Mrs Janeway tried not to panic, grabbing an officer passing by with her free hand and asking, "What's happening?"

"You should get to the escape pods, miss. We're about to have a warp core breach," he answered, pushing her in the direction of the escape pods. "Quickly now."

Mrs Janeway started walking fast toward the pods, keeping a firm grip on the confused Kathryn's hand. When they arrived, there was a frantic crowd pushing and shoving their way into the escape pods, afraid for their lives. Ships' officers weaved their way through the people, trying to maintain order, trying to get everyone to safety.

Then Mrs Janeway realized Kathryn's hand was not in hers. She turned in a circle, trying to spot her daughter in the crowd, but she was gone. "Kathryn!" She called, desperately pushing through the crowd. "Kathryn!" An officer grabbed her arm, pulled her to a pod.

"Wait! I can't find my daughter! I lost my daughter!" She shouted, still trying to look for Kathryn while being pulled along behind the officer. "We will find her,miss, I assure you. Now step into the escape pod, please," the man in black and gold told her, leading her into a small shuttle and gently pushing her into the last free seat.

He left then, and the door closed behind him. Mrs Janeway couldn't help but cry.

Kathryn was scared. There was alot of people around blocking her from her mommy and she didn't know what was going on. "Mommy!" she cried, tears coming to her eyes. Then a man in black and red clothes picked her up and carried her to a door. On the other side of the door were people sitting in rows of seats.

The man handed her to a lady with orange hair, and the door closed as he left. "I want my mommy!" she cried. "It's okay, we'll meet up with her soon," the lady said, hugging her close, trying to calm her. "Shh, shh, don't cry."

But Kathryn was scared. She couldn't help but cry.

The passenger transport ship shook and shuttered. It's destruction was inevitable. There was no stopping the warp core breach that was about to occur. The escape pods ejected a little too late. They tried to maneuver away from the big ship, but they were still just a little too late.

The transport ship blew up in a brilliant display of red, yellow, and orange explosions above the planet of Keltinia. All of the smaller escape shuttles got caught in the blast. All twenty of them. But two of them emerged from the destruction, two of them were not destroyed along with the ship.

But the two escape pods were badly damaged, both unable to go anywhere but toward the planet. The pilots flying them attempted to steady their descent to the surface, but it didn't do much good.

The two escape pods, filled with frightened people, half crashed, half landed on Keltinia. One landed beside a tall, impassable wall of enourmous trees, in an abandoned town made of short, wide buildings and empty parks. The second pod roughly touched down on the other side of the natural structure, causing dust to rise and swirl in the air, leaves to blow off the trees and dance in the wind.

And they were almost certainly forever separated by the massive fortress of entwined branches and over-sized leaves.


	2. Chapter 2

The pilot opened his eyes. He had closed them right before the harsh, bumpy landing, thinking he wasn't going to make it. But he had. A glance around the pilots cockpit told him the two more experienced officers had not. One slumped over in his chair and the other lay on the floor beside hers.

After checking them, confirming they were dead, he went back to the controls and pushed some buttons. Nothing worked. The escape shuttle was completely dead. And it was dark, too. None of the lights were working, and the small forward viewscreen was covered in dark brown dirt.

He heard panicked voices coming from the back of the small pod, from the passenger sections. "All right, Skip, you can do this. It can't be that hard," he said to himself, running his fingers through messy black hair. "All I have to do is calm the passengers, go through basic survival procedures, and then fix this shuttle. Yeah, that's it."

Skip smiled to himself, but then frowned when he remembered he was only a pilot, not an engineer. "I'll think of something," he reassured himself. He crossed to the back of the cockpit and headed for the passenger section, but the door didn't whoosh open like it was supposed to and he smacked into it.

"Stupid thing," he mumbled, giving it a bang with his fist, then raising his voice to speak through the door. "Stay calm, everybody! Everything will be okay! I'll be coming in there soon!" He tried manually opening the door, but it was jammed.

He gave it another couple of frustrating bangs until it loosened. He tried opening it again, this time succeeding, and stepped through. The passengers were frantic, looking around and shouting. There were only six people left in this section, two with crying children in their arms.

A couple more people lay on the ground at his feet in a pool of blood, and four others were also sprawled on the floor, not moving. He didn't have to check them to know they were dead, but he did anyway.

"Everybody calm down! If you'll all be quiet, please, and listen to me, that would be very helpful! I'll get you out of here!" Skip shouted over the noise. The passengers settled down, but were not completely quiet, still whispering among themselves.

"Thank you," Skip said, crossing over to the door that led to the second passenger section. He opened it manually, then looked inside. This section was empty. There was a large hole in the back, a hull breach that the shuttles systems couldn't cover with a protective force field in time.

"Those poor souls," Skip muttered, turning back to the passengers. A young couple embraced each other beside a mother and father holding a little boy. A young woman wiped away frightened tears at the back of the group, and a lady rocked a crying girl in her arms.

"Okay everyone, be brave," Skip told them. "Follow me, but don't leave the shuttle until I tell you it's safe. Got it?" They all nodded, then followed him through the empty section and stopped at the large hole in the back.

Skip continued forward cautiously. He emerged from the hole into the twilight glow of the wilderness of Keltinia. Large purple and green leaves lined with small, gleaming blue beads drooped from twisted bronze tree trunks.

The sky wasn't visible through the treetops, no light from the sun could be seen, giving the still air a cool, damp feel. The little round, glowing beads criss-crossed over the mossy ground, providing the only illumination. There were clear, shallow pools of water to the left, reflecting the light blue luminescence.

Skip didn't see a single sign that anybody else was around. They were alone out here. He forced his eyes away from the beauty of this place to look down at his tricorder. He was right, they were definitely alone. He turned back to the frightened, but slightly calmer, passengers standing in the shuttle.

"It's safe. Come on out," Skip told them. They moved as a group, stepping out onto the springy green moss and looking around. After a moment, the orange haired woman with the little girl asked, "Well, what do we do?" Skip looked at them all.

"Well uh..." he began, "I know what to do. I learned about situations like this at the Academy. First thing we do is find a base." He was met with confused stares. "You know, like a camp. A place to stay and plan a way out of this," he explained.

"Come on, follow me." He led them away from the crashed escape pod, searching for a sheltered spot that would make a good base. After some looking, he found a small cave in the side of a rocky grey cliff that would make a good shelter. Two bronze, thick-trunked trees grew on either side of the opening, bending toward eachother and twisting together at the top.

In front of the cave was a large tree stump that would make a good table. Skip gathered everyone around the stump, noticing the top was swirled with the glowing beads. "Okay everyone. I'm going to give you tasks. We've got to survive until I get the shuttle fixed," Skip said, not telling them he might not be able to fix it.

"First, introductions. I'm Lieutenant José Perez, but you can call me Skip. What are you names?" They all answered, going clockwise around the twisted stump. The young couples' names were Sharon and Samuel, and the young lady introduced herself as Teresa, nervously twirling her hair with a finger.

Steven introduced himself, his wife Holly, and his son Mark, and the orange haired lady told them her name was Sarah. After some coaxing, they got the little girl to tell them her name was Kathryn.

Alright, here's your tasks. Sharon and Samuel, take these tricorders and figure out what we can and cannot eat," Skip said, and they set off after a quick demonstration with the tricorders.

"Teresa, find out if that water is drinkable," he instructed, also handing her a tricorder. "Steven and Holly, collect big leaves that we can use as pillows, blankets, and maybe even a door. Sarah, stay here and watch the children." He sighed. "I'll be trying to fix the shuttle.

Skip headed off to the shuttle, leaving Sarah comforting Mark and Kathryn beside the stump. This was going to be a long day.


	3. Chapter 3

Two hours later, little Kathryn sat on the blue-beaded ground, playing in the soft moss with her fingers. She still wanted her mommy, but she was being brave, like a fearless explorer getting lost in a jungle.

The orange-haired lady, Sarah, was nice, and she had comforted Kathryn until she felt a little better. A five year old boy named Mark sat beside her, also playing in the dazzling moss.

The other people sat around the giant stump, talking, spreading leaves out on top of it. Then two of them took a bunch of the green and purple leaves and went into the cave. Another one set about trying to hang a huge leaf in front of the opening.

The others stayed around the stump, discussing a bunch of small, colorful berries and smaller, lighter colored leaves. Kathryn pushed herself up onto her feet and started walking, following a curving line of shining blue beads.

Mark also got up, following her, and Sarah kept a watchful eye on them. "Where you going?" he asked when he caught up to her. "On an adventure. Wanna come?" Kathryn answered. Mark smiled and said "Yeah!"

They followed the beads to a slow-moving, narrow stream of clear water. Kathryn stuck her hands in it, and Mark did the same. It was cool, but not too cold, and so shallow she could feel the mossy bottom. Then she felt something else.

"Look at this!" Kathryn exclaimed, pulling up a handful of pretty seashells. "We made a 'scovery!" Mark beamed, also grabbing a handful of smooth, white and pink shells from the bottom of the stream. "Cool!"

They proudly carried an armful of their find back to show Sarah. "Well, what do we have here?" Sarah asked as both children handed her some shells. "We made a 'scovery!" Kathryn announced, and Mark only smiled while he held a pale pink one high above his head.

Sarah set the ones she had gotten on the stump, and Skip immediately started scanning them with a tricorder. "Wow! These are edible!" Skip said, surprised. "They're like clams. I bet if you pry them open like this..." he tried opening the white clam, but it was tightly clamped shut, and he failed.

"Heh, well I guess smashing it with a rock will do the trick." Skip also failed at finding a rock, so he used a piece of bronze wood. He smashed open the clam and pulled out a small, mushy tan thing. He held it up for everyone to see, scanned it one more time, and then popped it into his mouth.

"Mmm, it's actually pretty good," He said. "Chewy, but good." Everyone else cracked one open and tried it, agreeing with Skip. Sarah turned to the youngest two of the group and asked, "Where did you get these shells?"

Mark and Kathryn smiled, knowing they did something important and helpful. "Follow us!" Kathryn said, feeling like a starship captain as she and Mark led Sarah to the stream. They all gathered as much pearly white and pale pink shells as they could carry and brang them back to camp.

Marks parents helped Skip break them all open and everyone enjoyed them, along with some berries and small leaves. They drank water from the clear pools, scooping it up with their hands. After that, Kathryn wanted to go on another adventure, so she and Mark set off in a new direction with Sarah strolling along behind them.

The two children ran along, laughing and playing, rolling in the moss, being amazed at the criss-crossing pattern of the beads beneath their feet, and forgetting most of what had happened earlier that day.

Kathryn was admiring a large blue-beaded, purple-splotched green leaf that was bigger than she was when Mark grabbed her hand and led her through a curtain of deep green vines. On the other side was a breathtaking sight.

Tall cliffs of grey stone circled a field of fuzzy white flowers that resembled dandelions. On one side, a waterfall poured from the rocks into a sparkling stream of the crystal clear water. Tiny blinking bugs floated around, shining yellow on and off like flying lightbulbs.

Mark, still holding Kathryn's hand, ran through the flowers, sending small clouds of white fluff in the air. It floated down on top of them sticking to their clothes and clinging to their hair. Kathryn and Mark had a good time as they tumbled and rolled in the field, chasing the firefly-like bugs until they got tired.

Sarah helped them pick some of the fuzzy flowers, and then they headed back to camp. When they arrived, Skip scanned the flowers, going off on a long, boring lecture on how they were alot like cotton, and Sarah volunteered to try and knit clothes out of them.

Then, all of a sudden, it started raining. Clear droplets of water slipped through the ceiling of leaves and fell onto the survivors. They all rushed inside the cave to stay dry, making sure the leaf door covering the entrance kept the rain out.

Nine mounds of giant fronds arranged like small beds were scattered around the stone floor of the cave, and a pile of berries sat in the corner. "Well, this is as good time as any to get some rest," Skip said, kicking off his black boots and slipping between the beaded leaves, Everyone else did the same.

Sarah helped Kathryn into a bed and kissed her goodnight before moving away to get into her own. Kathryn lay there, thinking of her mother, and, listening to the soft pitter-patter of rain on the moss outside, eventually fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

The survivors lived like that for ten years, eating clams and berries, sleeping in beds made out of leaves, wearing clothes created from the white flowers. Skip tried very hard to fix the escape shuttle, but only succeeded in making it worse when he caused an explosion in the engines that destroyed half the pod.

He took it like a man, but deep down he was devastated that he couldn't save these people. There wasn't even enough power to send out a distress call before it blew up. If only his twin brother, Jaime, was here. He was an engineer, he'd have been able fix it.

Sharon discovered she could make tea by boiling water with the smaller leaves in it over a fire, and Samuel made chairs out of the bronze wood using tools from the shuttle. Teresa used the extra wood to create baskets for collecting berries and clams, and decorated them with vines.

Skip ventured out two days after the crash and found a large pond for bathing in behind another curtain of vines. Little Kathryn and Mark often went on adventures, learning to swim, climb trees, and survive in this twilight wilderness.

The cave they used as a shelter was eventually replaced by a small wooden cabin that everyone helped build, and they got accustomed to sleeping when it rained, taking it as night time since there was always twelve hours between rainfalls.

Kathryn, thirteen years old now, sat on a low, twisted branch of a tree, hidden by the giant purple and green leaves. She was dressed in loose white clothes that Sarah had made for her, and her light brown hair fell to the middle of her back.

She wore a necklace that she had made herself with a thin green vine and half of a pale pink clam shell. Around her wrist was a bracelet constructed of shiny light blue pearls that Mark had given her. The pearls glowed like the luminescent beads decorating the leaves and moss.

She peeked out from her hiding spot, pushing aside a giant leaf, and wished she hadn't. "I see you!" Mark shouted, running toward the tree, his own loose white clothes fluttering around. Kathryn laughed, quickly climbing down the tree, easily finding her hand- and foot-holds on the gnarly tree trunk.

She sped away from Mark, but he caught up and tackled her to the soft mossy ground. "Race ya to the Garden," he said, referring to the field of fuzzy white flowers. "I'll win!" Kathryn exclaimed, jumping up and racing through the radiant forest with Mark close on her heels.

Kathryn burst through the vine curtain first, not stopping until she was tumbling through the flowers, sending white fluff into the air. Mark joined her, rolling in the center of the Garden and chasing the yellow, blinking bugs.

"Hey, wanna try to catch a bird?" Kathryn asked. A couple years ago they had found out that colorful red and blue peacock-like birds lived in holes in the trees. Mark and Kathryn had alot of fun trying to catch one with their bare hands since the birds flew low, just above their heads.

"Sure!" Mark answered. They wandered around a bit until the spotted a hole in a tall, bronze tree. Mark climbed up a bit and tapped on the bark beside the hole. A squawk came from inside, and then a bird shot out, red and blue feathers gleaming in the light from the glowing beads.

Kathryn leaped for the bird but missed it by a few inches as it avoided her hands. She and Mark chased after it, zig-zagging through trees and jumping over small puddles. Then the bird abruptly stopped, spun in the air, and flew straight for them.

Mark sprung into the air as it passed overhead and grabbed for it, but only managed to get a handful of long, colorful tailfeathers. "Aha! We got feathers from it!" Mark exclaimed triumphantly. He held the feathers behind him and pranced around, saying, "I'm a pretty birdy! You can't catch me!"

Kathryn laughed and went after him, knocking him to the ground. "Yeah I can!" she said, taking a feather and studying it. Suddenly something leaped from the treetops, landing with a thud behind them. Kathryn's head snapped around and she held in a scream.

Standing there was an enormous hairy beast looking at them with eight red eyes. One of it's long, spindly legs were raised high above it's black body, and two yellow fangs protruded from it's mouth. Kathryn and Mark wasted no time springing to their feet and speeding off into the forest.

The creature ran after them, screeching and clicking. It's long legs and larger size made it faster, but also less felxible, occasionally causing it to get trapped behind close-growing trees and tangled in hanging vines.

It lashed out at them with it's two front legs but they easily dodged the attacks. Kathryn and Mark ran through camp, past the cave where they stored food, past the stump surrounded by bronze wooden chairs, past the cabin that they slept in.

Sarah jumped out of her rocking chair at the sight of them being chased by a monster. Teresa, who had just returned early from picking berries with Sharon, let out a shrill scream and fainted, spilling her basket on the beaded ground.

Holly knelt beside her and began fanning her with a leaf. Skip stepped out of the cabin and did a doubletake. "Holy cannoli!" He cried. "Am I dreaming?" Steven and Samuel came out beside him and shook their heads.

"Run for the Pond! Maybe it doesn't swim!" Skip shouted after them, hands cupped around his mouth to amplify his voice. Kathryn and Mark didn't answer, but they headed in the direction of the large pond that they had learned to swim in.

Shoving the curtain of vines aside, they dived into the water, swimming away from the land. The creature screeched, frusrated it didn't catch it's unusual prey, and used it's powerful legs to launch itself into the trees where it disappeared from sight.

Kathryn and Mark just stared up into the leaves with shocked expressions on their faces as they treaded in the water. Then Mark let out a victorious whoop, and Kathryn high-fived him. "What an adventure!" she said, following him out of the pond.

They walked back to camp where Steven was moving the passed out Teresa to a chair while Holly continued fanning her with a leaf. Sarah was standing in front of her chair, wide-eyed, and Skip was leaning,slack-jawed, against the cabin.

"Don't worry, it's gone," Kathryn assured them. At that moment, Sharon returned with her basket of berries and noticed Teresa slumped in the chair. "Oh my! What happened?" she asked, leaning down to rescue the dropped berries scattered on the moss.

"Mark and Kathryn will tell you all about it over dinner," Skip told her. "Let's crack out the clams and roll out the berries!" He started laughing. When he realized nobody was joining in he said, "You know, 'cause you have to crack the clams open...and berries roll...crack out the clams and roll out the berries..."

Sharon rolled her eyes, and Samuel went into the cave to get their dinner. When everyone, including Teresa who had woken up a moment before, was gathered around the stump eating berries, smashing clams open, and drinking tea out of wooden cups, Mark and Kathryn told them what had happened.

"And then this thing jumped out of the trees, and it was like, attack of the saber-toothed spider!" Mark explained, sticking two broken peices of shell in his mouth like fangs and making weird screech noised. "So we ran and it almost got us like, a million times!" Kathryn added.

"And we jumped in the Pond and it disappeared back into the trees," Mark finished. Skip whistled. "What a day!" Sarah stood up and said, "Well let's go inside. The rain will come soon, and I'm sure your tired after getting into trouble for the hundredth time."

So they all cleaned up and went into the cabin, getting in bed when it began to rain. Kathryn fell asleep listening to the droplets sliding off the leaves and falling to the moss, wondering what kind of adventures would come her way tomorrow.


	5. Chapter 5

A year later, Kathryn was once again exploring the wilderness with Mark when they found something spectacular. "Hey Kath! Over here, I found one!" Mark called to her. They were out looking for more berry bushes while they explored, and Mark had found one.

Kathryn ran to him, carrying her empty wooden basket over her arm. This bush was like all the others, one thin, bronze truck spiraling upwards to just above her head with a bunch of smaller branches reaching out of it. Berries of every color were grouped in fives at the base of every green and purple leaf.

Mark had begun picking the berries, and Kathryn started filling her basket also. She was moving to the other side of the wide bush when something caught her eye. She set her basket down on the moss and walked toward a bunch of large drooping leaves where the thick trees grew side by side, almost touching.

"Hey Kath, where are you going?" Mark asked from behind her, still picking berries. "Just seeing something," She responded. Kathryn pushed aside the leaves and squeezed between the twisted trunks. She emerged into a clearing and was amazed at what stood before her.

She stared up at a wall as tall as the trees, made of the same gnarly bark. It curled overhead at the top, making it impossible to climb, and a glance to either side showed that it extended for miles and miles in both directions.

"Mark!" she called. "Come see!" He took a moment to arrive by her side, and when he did, he was as amazed as she was. "I wonder what's on the other side," Kathryn said, walking alongside it and pushing leaves out of the way, looking for a door.

The two of them walked along a tiny fraction of the wall in both directions, seeking a way to the other side. Eventually they gave up and finished filling their baskets with berries. They returned to camp in time for dinner, and when the rain came, Kathryn had trouble falling asleep. She was too curious about what was behind that enormous natural wall.

For three years Kathryn and Mark searched for a way to the other side of the wall in their freetime. They moved leaves, tore down vines, and even climbed up it a short distance, but they were unsuccessful. They didn't give up though, and they had fun adventuring up and down beside the giant wall.

Then one day, Kathryn, now seventeen, found something. "Mark, look!" she called. He hurried over to where she knelt beside the huge fortress. "What is it Kath? Did you find a door?" he asked, kneeling next to her.

She moved aside some oversized leaves to reveal a hole tunneling inside the wall, just big enough to crawl through. "Maybe it leads all the way to the other side," she said, sticking her head in it. It was very dark and smelled strongly of the bronze wood.

Suddenly she heard Mark scream. Kathryn quickly pulled her head out and turned to him. What? What happened?" She asked. Then she saw the snake, its wide mouth open, sharp fangs dripping with venom. They had encountered these snakes before, and had always managed to avoid being bitten.

The soft glow from the beads caused its red and gold scales to shine. It hissed at her, and lunged, but it was slow, and she quickly rolled to the side. She snapped a stick off the mighty wall, smashed it down onto the snake.

It hissed, lunged, missed again, and got whacked in the face with her stick. Then she brought it down hard onto the snakes head, pointy end going straight through its skull. She flung the stick and dead snake away and turned back to Mark.

He lay curled up on the ground and there was blood dripping from a bite on his exposed ankle. Kathryn pulled him to his feet, putting an arm under his shoulders to hold him up. "We should get you back to camp," she said, and he nodded.

Kathryn helped him walk in the direction of the camp. When they reached the cabin everyone helped get Mark in his bed. Kathryn covered him with a white blanket that had been made out of the cotton flowers, and then stuffed with the white fuzz.

She told everyone about the snake and showed them the bite on Marks ankle. Sarah, her hair white now, wrapped it in a leaf covered with a medicine they had discovered over the years and had used to treat small cuts.

Kathryn sat at his bedside for the next couple of days and tried everything to help him get better, but he only got weaker and weaker. Then one day he grabbed her hand and said, "Go through the hole. Find out what's on the other side, and then come back to tell me."

Kathryn shook her head. "No Mark, I can't. I couldn't just..." Mark raised his finger to her lips. "Go. For me." He kissed her palm, and after a hug, she agreed.

Kathryn set off on another great adventure that night, this time all alone.


	6. Chapter 6

Kathryn ran through the mystical glowing forest, over the soft springy moss, small clear raindrops falling on and around her. When she reached the giant wall of twisted trees and entwined branches, she pushed past the beaded leaves and into the hole she'd found.

She crawled through a long, narrow tunnel, feeling around in the darkness. After two minutes she came out another hole behind a small round bush that hid it from view. She stood up and looked around; she had reached the other side.

It wasn't raining here, but the dark night sky speckled with stars was visible, as well as a bright white moon. The ground was grey, and hard beneath her bare feet, very different from the soft blue-beaded green moss she was used to.

There were only a few trees here and they were nothing like the impressive bronze ones from the side she came from. The leaves were tiny, solid-colored, and Kathryn found it strange to be surrounded by wide open space in each direction instead of thick-trunked trees.

She wandered a bit until she came to a place that looked like it had once been lived in. There were broken, crumbling structures all over, as if they had been abandoned long ago. Patches of light green grass separated the structures, softly swaying in a gentle breeze.

Then Kathryn spotted one that was still whole. She aprroached it cautiously, reached out to touch it. It was hard but not wood; dark grey instead of bronze. She circled around it to a wall made of an entirely different thing.

It was see-through, very smooth, and there was a door to one side, also clear. Kathryn looked through it and saw people laying in beds much like the ones Samuel had made out of wood. Then she noticed a person not laying in a bed.

Instead, this person sat beside a window, looking out and up to the sky. Kathryn watched her for a moment, ready to bolt, wondering what the woman was looking at. Then, slowly, the woman began to turn and Kathryn sprang out of sight.

She wandered away from the odd building to explore. She found some other structures still intact, and they seemed to have different purposes than the first one. Some didn't have the transparent wall while others had more than one.

Shattered lightposts lined the walkways, some laying on the ground, some still standing, and there were large sections of green grass and small trees with benches in the center. She came across a large lake, but instead of sparkling, clear water, it was slightly cloudy.

She covered a large section of this unusual place but she saw no sign of any other people. Eventually she returned to the first building and carefully peeked around the corner to look inside the clear wall. This time all of the people were in beds, including the woman who had been gazing out the window.

They all appeared to be sleeping so Kathryn pulled the door open and ventured inside. She silently wandered around the single room, observing things on shelves, opening drawers and cabinets, and curiously watching the sleeping people.

She came to the mysterious woman last and found herself looking into her own reflection. The womans hair was the same light brown as her own, and her face was the same face Kathryn saw when she looked into puddles of clear water.

Then Kathryn remembered little pieces of her life when she was very young; staring up into a face so like her own, admiring hair that she also had, looking into blue eyes that mirrored hers. "Mommy," Kathryn whispered with sudden realization.

The soft noise caused the sleeping woman to stir. Kathryn stood still and held her breath until the movement stopped, then slipped away into the dark, starlit night. She ran back to the massive wall, entered the hole behind the bush, crawled through the tunnel and emerged in familiar surroundings.

Kathryn hurried through the light rain, over the damp moss, back to the cabin, and went straight to Marks bed. She shook him to wake him up. "Mark, I've been to the other side!" She told him excitedly, still shaking. "It's like a whole other world!"

Mark didn't open his eyes, didn't smile at her great discovery. "Mark!" She said a little louder, shook him a little harder. "Mark!" Kathryn checked for a pulse, but felt nothing. She laid her head on his chest, but heard nothing.

"No!" Kathryn started crying, and she sat at his bedside all night, telling him all about the other side anyway. She told him about the hard ground and the clear sky, the wide buildings with the see-through walls.

She told him about the thin little trees and the tiny solid-colored leaves, the stars and the moon shining in the darkness up above. She told him about going inside the buildings and the people sleeping in beds, about her mother who looked so much like herself.

And when there was nothing left to tell Kathryn just sat there beside Mark and cried. They sadly buried him in the morning, carving his name into a peice of wood and setting it on his grave. A couple nights later, after sitting around in the cabin and beside the stump, Kathryn decided to return to the other side.

She easily found the tunnel through the huge wall and, upon reaching the other side, she made her way to the first building where the people slept. She trotted over the hard ground and past the collapsed buildings, the only light coming from the moon and stars.

She felt out of place in this very strange, very different place; no tall trees surrounded her and blocked the sky from view, no soft moss beneath her feet, no light blue glow from the gleaming beads lining oversized leaves and criss-crossing the ground.

When she arrived at the building she made sure the people were sleeping, then quietly snuck inside. Silently, Kathryn walked over to her mother, making sure not to wake anyone. She slipped her vine and seashell necklace over her head and carefully placed it in her mothers hand.

Then, after a moment had passed, Kathryn quickly left and headed back to the hole leading to her own world.

...

Mrs Janeway woke up with a start from a deep sleep, wondering what had woken her. She sat upright in bed and her hand closed around something hard. She lifted it up, and in her hand was a palm-sized, pale pink seashell.

There was a hole in the very top with a thin deep green vine running through it. The vine was tied in a loop, and Mrs Janeway realized it was meant to be a necklace. She put it over her head and fingered the smooth, shiny seashell.

"Now where did this come from?" She wondered out loud.

...

Kathryn crawled through the tunnel in the massive fortress, ran across familiar green moss, admired the beauty of the luminescent beads. Instead of returning to the cabin, she ventured away from it, deeper into the mysterious twilight wilderness.

She ended up sitting in a twisted, bronze tree, concealed behind the large purple and green leaves, listening to the soft pitter-patter of raindrops. She thought of the now gone Mark and her long lost mother. Many questions ran through her mind.

What if Mark hadn't died? Maybe they would have explored the whole forest, the other side of the wall, and then gotten married to have children of their own.

What if her mother was on this side of the wall instead of that side? Maybe she would have told Kathryn many stories about her life, and then join in on the many adventures that could be found in this forest.

What if the escape shuttles never crashed? Maybe she would have went back to her homeworld and became a doctor saving peoples lives, or a scientist making the next major breakthrough, or maybe even a starship captain exploring the far reaches of space and meeting alien species.

Kathryn wondered just what would it have been like in another life.


End file.
